Florida Trip: VAF= Very Awesome Folks

Well rather than spending a relaxing Independence Day holiday weekend working on the -8 and doing home chores, my wife and I felt we needed to go to Venice Florida to check on her elderly aunt that had hurt herself. So we hopped some flights and spent the weekend down there.

I had mentioned to Gary Palinkas that I come to Venice on occasion, and he told me to give him a buzz when I came again. Well I did and he invited me to meet at the airport as I asked him if I could see his airplane sometime. Well I met him and another -8 builder named Lonn. They were great about letting me gawk at their airplanes...which are both showcases of craftsmanship! Then Gary asked me if I have been in an RV...of course the answer was no..so he asked me to come on the dawn patrol the next morning. Well I had an AWESOME first flight in Gary's RV! What a spectacular ride...and a very memorable first RV flight!!!!!

But it didn't stop there! We were going to take a $90 shuttle on Sunday to get to SRQ for our flight back to VA. Gary offered a ride to my wife and I and picked us up at 0500 to take us to the airport. HE REFUSED TO TAKE GAS MONEY! I don't want to embarrass him but he and N198RV are true ambassadors of VAF...my wife was very impressed!

I just want to say that this forum is more than help with building, it is a forum that helps in building new friendships, confidence, and the love of adventure. Its about things like "The Vladventures of N666K", the Izzybear's that I found as a build friend and help each quarter when I travel to Dallas for work, the welcome when I arbitrarily stopped in the Van Cave and was told to pull up a couch and hanger fly for an hour or so like you are at a family gathering, the Jay Pratts that is willing to share all his build experience, the seasoned builders like Pierre and others who spend time encouraging builders that are ready to sell their RV-3's out of frustration, the Bob Collins that take time to get the real life stories at OSH.......really its about the great folks that make up a truly wonderful forum. I have found most pilots to be a great crop of folks.....but people on this forum even take it a notch or more higher they are Very Awesome Folks

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Skykingbob said:

people on this forum even take it a notch or more higher they are Very Awesome Folks

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Yep, so far all the ones I have met fit the description quite well.

I like your re-definition of VAF

Gary rocks!!!

We should start a thread "How I Met Gary"

Well, first, I was on a flying mission for the last few days. Had to take my brother-in-law home to Augusta, Ga. Short trip report coming.

I don't think I did anything out of the ordinary for a guy who has the faith to build an airplane he has never flown in. Certainly, many on VAF would have done the same. Which is the point of Bob's post.

SkyKing Bob is a building an -8. All I did was keep the juices flowing by giving HIS FIRST EVER RV RIDE.

Bob is a very accomplished pilot and has flown many different aircraft but never an RV. He found my -6 to be everything he has read and heard about the RV series flying qualities.

Bob checks out Lonn's immaculate RV-8. Lonn was just finishing his condition inspection so SkyKing will have to wait until his next visit to get an -8 ride from Lonn.



SkyKing Bob doing his thing?.

Vlad said:

We should start a thread "How I Met Gary"

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No way Vlad.

The new thread should be "Hey, you are the guy that knows Vlad".
Everywhere I go that I run into RV guys/girls they all say "Hey, you are the guy that knows Vlad"

I couldn't agree more about many of the people I have met from VAF.





BTW,
Just to correct the record for future CIA files its "Vladventures of N666BK".